


scaffolding and christmas lights

by euphrasiepontmercy



Category: Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist (TV)
Genre: Gen, cheesy fluffy good old fashioned holiday fic because The World Needs It, harry potter references because of course, more karaoke
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-17
Updated: 2020-12-17
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:14:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28123671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/euphrasiepontmercy/pseuds/euphrasiepontmercy
Summary: another glitch in the power causes zoey to rethink the sprqpoint holiday party, but tori's got her own plans for it. title from where are all the scientists now by jukebox the ghost
Comments: 6
Kudos: 6





	scaffolding and christmas lights

**Author's Note:**

> yay another installment in the tcu (tori cinematic universe)!! I wrote this in like a day because Escapism but I hope yall enjoy it-it doesn't exactly go with either storyline I've written for her so far but Yknow What It's Christmas I Can Do What I Want. lyrics from all i want for christmas is you by mariah carey (because Of Course) and reference to dancing through life from wicked (because Kap Needs To Play Fiyero).

This was a  _ terrible _ idea.

_ Create more opportunities for team bonding, they said. It’ll be fun, they said. _

A small holiday party for the fourth floor had seemed harmless until her latest and most horrifying glitch. Somehow, for the past week, anyone that Zoey made direct eye contact with would sing their heartsongs not only to her, but to the rest of the world (which she’d found out through Simon’s rather dramatic rendition of “At Last” upon receiving a long-awaited cheesequake order). She’d asked the advice of Mo, Tori, and Max and spent the past few days wearing dark sunglasses, but there would be nowhere to hide at the party that night.

She was putting on mascara with a shaking hand, knowing it would be practically pointless. Victoria was in the living room of the apartment, draping tinsel around a small Christmas tree and blasting holiday music in an attempt to get her mind off of the terrifying possibilities of the night. Zoey heard a gasp from the living room, followed by her cousin rushing to the open bathroom door.

“Tobin just texted me; they’re setting up a karaoke machine. At least that’s what I think he said,” she reported as she scrolled through the message, “it’s mostly emojis.”

Zoey sighed and set down the mascara, waiting for an explanation.

“Don’t you see what this means? It’ll make things so much easier tonight, at least until we find out what’s causing the glitch. During the songs I’ve heard, the instrumentals take over the rest of the sound in the area, so it’ll probably be as if whatever song is sung is the song that’s playing at the party.”

The older cousin took a moment to consider this, and her head tilted to the side.

“If that’s the case, I just hope that everyone’s feelings come in a festive form. If they aren’t holiday songs, people might get even more suspicious.”

Victoria nodded, and Zoey could see the gears turning behind her eyes.

“What are you thinking?”

She shook herself out of her thoughts.

“Uh, just an idea that came to me. Probably very risky. I’ll tell you if I ever plan to carry it out tonight.”

“...Okay, then.”

The girl’s eyes darted, as if attempting to shut off her train of thought, and then lit up at the start of another song. She received a notification, looked at it, and laughed before making her way back to the living room.

Zoey sighed, fluffed her hair, and carefully placed her sunglasses.

_ Let’s hope it’s not a disaster. _

\----

Two hours into the office party, a disaster had yet to occur. She’d been careful to keep her glasses on, and everything had been fine, although she couldn’t allow herself to fully enjoy the party that she and Simon had set up. It was a genuinely nice event; things were running so smoothly that almost no one could sense the anxiety that had clouded Zoey’s week.

Victoria had stayed close to her during most of the night, although the group itself was small, consisting only of employees of the fourth floor. General small talk was interspersed with discussions of how the glitch could have started and how it could be stopped. 

As the night wore on, the usual awkwardness of office parties began to melt, and people’s walls came down as they became drunk-more on fatigue than on alcohol. It was the kind of tiredness that made one feel fully alive; the lights of the building and the San Francisco skyline were flooding the fourth floor, the music was pounding beyond all conversation, and it felt like a major release from the long week that everyone had endured. In that moment, nothing mattered but the song coming through the speakers.

There was a moment when Zoey, finally allowing herself to enjoy the party and thinking she was alone save for Victoria, had set her sunglasses down on a table. She’d been rubbing her temples, trying to calm a headache, when she’d heard Tobin’s unmistakable voice. He’d seemed to be leading his fellow coders in a song of his party mantra, advising them to simply dance through life and enjoy it while they could. Zoey had laughed as they’d backflipped their way through the fourth floor with Tobin at the height of his glory and turned to her cousin, awaiting her reaction.

She hadn’t seen it.

No one had.

After his dazzling performance, Tobin had snapped right back into reality without a second thought.

Zoey’s eyes had widened at the realization that the glitch had subsided- _ what could have happened, what was it that changed- _ but didn’t get the chance to inform her cousin of that fact before Leif joined them at their table, when she’d hurriedly replaced her glasses to avoid questions. The three of them had talked for a while, and Victoria had attempted to serve as a mediator for the still-awkward dynamic between her cousin and her crush.  _ Narrative foils _ , she’d once called them, and Zoey wouldn’t dispute it.

Victoria stared after him as he left, and she took a deep yet rushed breath after a few moments, turning to Zoey.

“So there’s that idea I mentioned.”

“...Yes?”

“I want you to look at me.”

“I’m sorry,  _ why _ would you-”

“There’s no way that I can actually tell him how I feel,” she said, catching her breath. “God, it’s pathetic-I almost can’t speak sometimes when Leif looks at me, and his voice, and that damn scar under his eyebrow and-as you can see, I’m currently a little out of my wits. You know what, it’s all for the better-this means self-consciousness won’t get in the way, so I really need you to look at me. I’ll just rush up to the microphone, and it’ll be as if nothing unusual happened, and it’ll be fine-”

“Tori, stop.”  _ So...when do I tell her the truth?  _ “Are you sure about this?”

The younger cousin sighed.

“Zoey...I’ve never been in a real relationship. I’ve never been wanted. I don’t think I could consciously put myself out there like that. I value his friendship so deeply that if everything was ruined”-she stopped and took in a deep, shaky breath, seeming almost about to cry at the thought-”I wouldn’t want to be there to experience it.”

There were a few moments of silence following her confession before Zoey timidly answered it.

“Victoria, you can’t always hide behind a song. If you really are in love with him”-her voice caught in her throat, still in disbelief about it-”you’ll just have to be honest about it, and it can’t be against your own will. I know that it’s hard- _ believe me,  _ I know that a confession like that changes a lot, but...I’ve seen the way you look at him, Tori.”

There was a pause, and Zoey took a breath.

“And I’ve seen the way he looks at you.”

Victoria looked up, her hazel eyes frenzied and pained but slowly coming back to reality.

“You have to do your feelings justice.”

The younger cousin nodded, taking in the advice.

“You’re right, you’re absolutely right, but I just don’t know how much longer I can wait. I need to tell him somehow, but I’m still trying to figure out how…”

She pensively stirred her drink with a long pink straw, and let out a small laugh.

“If only this SPRQtini was some sort of liquid luck.”

Zoey smiled at the reference to the series they’d both grown up with, and an idea gradually started to come to her.

_ Liquid luck...which Ron didn’t even need in the first place, because all he needed was the belief that he had it... _

_ Oh, my God. _

“Okay.”

Victoria looked up from her drink with a wild hope in her eyes.

“Okay?”

“If there’s one thing you and that string bean of a Slytherin have in common, both of you somehow resonate with karaoke.”

She stood up, grabbed her cousin’s hand, brought her to the foot of the small karaoke stage, and quickly, without notice, put a song in the queue.

“Good luck.”

Zoey removed her sunglasses and made a show of looking her cousin squarely in the eye. Victoria smiled brightly, squeezed the shorter woman’s hand, and bounded onto the stage to grab the microphone.

While adjusting the mic stand to her height (Glenn, in all of his 5’4'' glory, had screlted an... _ entertaining _ rendition of “Jingle Bell Rock'' just a few minutes before), Victoria scanned the small crowd in search of the face that she was sure would produce the required emotion. Leif was standing right in the front, grinning up at her, looking just a bit disheveled.

_ Ooh, perfect. That’ll absolutely destroy her. _

An all-too-familiar piano introduction flowed from the speakers, and Victoria laughed as the fourth floor erupted in whoops and whistles of recognition.

_ “I don’t want a lot for Christmas...there is just one thing I need! I don’t care about the presents underneath the Christmas tree.” _

Zoey smiled, witnessing what she’d seen dozens of times over years of family holidays finally being performed. With an unstoppably playful energy, Victoria was riffing to the skies, egged on by the cheers of spirited, drunken coders.

_ “I just want you for my own, more than you could ever know. Make my wish come true, all I want for Christmas…” _

After navigating her way through Mariah’s iconic riffs, Victoria took a deep breath and smiled straight down at the song’s target.

_ “...is you.” _

It was flawless: unmistakable to the few that knew the context, but subtle enough to avoid being a major public confession that placed pressure on the serenaded to reciprocate the feelings- _ cough, cough, someonecouldhaveelearnedfromthat cough. _ As the tempo sped up, Leif’s eyes widened and he comically placed a hand on his chest, mouthing an exaggerated  _ “me?” _ before grinning in disbelief and enthusiastically headbanging to the music.

Being one of only three people knowing the significance of the performance, Victoria’s self-consciousness disappeared, and she danced around the stage joyfully, losing herself in the music as she had so many times before.

_ “Oh, I won’t ask for much this Christmas, I won’t even wish for snow! I’m just gonna keep on waiting underneath the mistletoe.” _

Upon hearing that line, Leif smirked and extended his hand, which Victoria took as she jumped off the stage, still holding the microphone. Everyone began to sing along, and Zoey laughed and shook her head in disbelief. No, it wasn’t a heartsong, but it easily could have been; the energy was absolutely infectious.

_ “I won’t make a list and send it to the North Pole for St. Nick, I won’t even stay awake to hear those magic reindeer click. I just want you here tonight, holdin’ on to me so tight.” _

As she sang, Leif awkwardly twirled her into him, and they danced like a pair of teenagers at a school dance.

_ “What more can I do? Oh, baby, all I want for Christmas is you!” _

The dance floor in front of the stage had begun to fill since the beginning of the song, and a space was cleared in the center for the singer and the serenaded. Zoey made her way to the inside, grinning, and looked around at the faces of her coworkers.

_ “You, baby! Oh, all the lights are shinin’ so brightly everywhere.” _

Tobin was whooping, pumping his fist, and singing the tenor part as loudly as humanly possible  _ (does he actually sing? That’s a question for another day) _ , and Simon’s eyes were laughing incredulously as he took another drink. Victoria tilted her head as if offering a challenge and held out the mic to Leif, who sang the next line into it with a growl straight out of a rock concert ( _ whose _ rock concert, Zoey couldn’t say, but it didn’t seem to matter at the moment).

_ “And the sound of children’s laughter fills the air!” _

Zoey smirked as she watched her cousin’s face go through hundreds of emotions in a few milliseconds upon hearing Leif actually sing for the first time- _ oh, she’s absolutely done for _ -before composing itself again as she pulled back the microphone.

_ “And everyone is singin’-” _

_ “Oh, yeah-” _

_ “I hear those sleighbells ringin’!” _

They passed the mic back and forth, almost unable to sing due to how hard they were both laughing at themselves.

_ “Santa, won’t you please bring me what I really need, won’t you please bring my baby to me! Oh, I don’t want a lot for Christmas, this is all I’m asking for. I just wanna see my baby standin’ right outside my door!” _

Catching her breath, Victoria sang the next few lines as if she really meant them, never moving her eyes from Leif’s. Given the upbeat and meme-ish nature of the song, it was a surprisingly genuine performance, and carried the vulnerability of a real heartsong.

_ “Oh, I just want you for my own, more than you could ever know.” _

Zoey was completely taken aback;  _ of course my cousin could make a song like this into a moment like this. _ Leif was smiling and shaking his head in utter disbelief, and he took hold of Victoria’s face as they sang, reassuring her of the sincerity behind the cheesy lyrics.

_ “Make my wish come true! Oh, baby, all I want for Christmas...” _

As if Zoey’s life couldn’t get any more like an exasperatingly festive musical at that point, once Tori hit the high G and riffed even higher, the room erupted.

_ “...is you!” _

Leif pulled her closer, looking down at her with a smile that Zoey hadn’t seen in months, and the older cousin was torn by the instinct of her role, half brimming with happiness upon seeing Victoria’s expression and half  _ nope nope nope nope nope.  _ She managed to make eye contact with Simon, and they made a beeline for the punch bowl.

“Your cousin...certainly has a gift.”

“That’s one way to put it,” Zoey laughed. “She didn’t think she could ever work up the courage to do what she just did.”

“How’d she manage it?”

He was smiling, somehow aware that Zoey had something to do with it.

“That reminds me-I have to tell her something.”

She pulled out her phone and fired off a quick message.

**The glitch ended a few hours ago. That was all you.**

The managers looked over at the dance floor filled with coders and eventually caught sight of Leif and Victoria twirling each other around in turn. During a pause in the music, the younger woman had noticed the notification and read it, and Zoey watched as her eyes grew wide and turned toward her cousin.

Zoey grinned and nodded to her, and Victoria laughed blissfully before joining back into the dance.

“Happy holidays, Zoey.”

She turned to see Simon holding a glass of champagne, which she happily clinked her own glass with.

“Happy holidays, indeed.”

**Author's Note:**

> okay there's a little unplanned splash of zimon in there so that's fun. also in case it wasn't clear the glitch arose as a product of stress and ended once zoey allowed herself to vent to people and let loose, if I'm continuing with the theme of "glitches are there to spur character development"-it would be interesting to explore what would happen with a glitch like that on the show, there'd be a lot of shenanigans and consequences. basically I'm home quarantined during the holidays and i just want to hang out with these people so Yay Escapism


End file.
